Warrior with a Heart
by sheepsteeler316
Summary: With her home destroyed and having been taken in by a mercenary, will Kaila become a heartless warrior for hire the way the world seems to want her to be? Or will she be able to resist the path that seems laid out before her, and choose a different path?


**Disclaimer**

**I do not own Tales of Symphonia. This is a work of Fanfiction using the Tales of Symphonia world, characters, etc.  
**

Kaila looked around the tower, panting heavily as she pushed herself to her feet. Her companions were still on the ground, downed by their seemingly invincible opponent. One of Kaila's knives was behind her auburn-haired adversary, clearly out of her reach. The other was broken near the hilt and was on the ground near enough to reach, not that it was useful in it's current state.

Kaila herself wasn't in much better shape than her companions, her lightweight leather armor was torn in several places and one of her shoulder straps had been cut. She'd sustained several sword wounds from the fight, but the most noticeable was on her right thigh, which made movement difficult.

All in all it was a pretty hopeless situation.

_That's what I get for fighting an angel. _Thought Kaila bitterly as she pushed herself up. _But whatever, I can't give up now._

"You're still fighting?" Asked her former comrade in surprise.

"Well, I am getting paid to protect the Chosen, and you're trying to kill the Chosen." She replied as she looked for a weapon. "Just doing my job."

_Guess this is really my only weapon left. _Thought Kaila as she pulled what remained of her brothers sword from the sheathe on her back, the blade was broken around a foot above the hilt The black blade glinted dimly in the dim light of the tower.

The swordsman merely raised his blade as Kaila rushed at him, shards drawn.

The two fought around the tower for a time, mercenary against angel. But as they fought it became clear that Kaila was being waited out.

_Dammit, he's just waiting until I'm to tired to continue. Then he's going to finish me off. _Thought Kaila as he moved backward, out of her range, once again.

_I've got to finish this fast. _

She launched a flurry of blows, intending to catch him off guard with the sheer speed of the attacks, and failed.

Kaila leapt backward, avoiding a slash intended to slice her in half at the waist, kicked off the edge of the upraised platform at the back of the room, and fell towards the swordsman intending to hit him as she fell.

She swung when she got to the proper height, and felt something slam into her middle.

She looked down to see the angel's sword embedded in the flesh just under her ribs.

Kaila cried out as she was flung to the side.

The dying mercenary glanced up to see her opponent looking down at her with… pity?

"Just get it over with." She croaked out as darkness started to overtake her vision.

He nodded and raised his sword.

_At least I got to see him again. _

Kaila closed her eyes in acceptance as the sword reached it's peak. As the darkness took over she heard the clash of steel on steel, but she was already to far gone to respond.

**15 Years previously**

Kaila had been trying to sleep all night, but had been simply tossing and turning. _I'm bored, I'm going to see if Leon wants to play. _

She got out of bed and began to walk quietly through the room towards Leon's bed. The room was a rather small and simple one, being square in shape with wooden walls and two beds on opposite sides of the room. There was a dresser to store clothes in between the beds, and a window above it precisely in the center of the wall. On the wall opposite of the window there was an oaken door with a frame of the same material.

As the child reached her brothers bed she heard screams from outside, and saw smoke through the window.

_Why are they screaming? Is someone scaring them? _

The four year old turned from her brothers bed and walked up to the window, then she climbed up onto the dresser so she could see out of it.

As Kaila completed the task of climbing the dresser the door to the room burst open.

_Uh-oh, I'm gonna be in trouble. _She thought as she turned around.

A man of average height and build with light brown hair and light colored eyes dressed in a white shirt and pants was rushing towards her, after he'd lifted her up he turned to a beautiful dark-haired woman with darker eyes dressed in a white night-gown and a necklace that had followed him.

"Shalla, wake Leon and follow me." He said as he moved towards the door, carrying Kaila in his arms.

"Daddy where are we going?" She asked as he took her down a short hallway with wooden walls painted a light brown color.

"Shh, be quiet Kaila, everything will be all right." He replied softly.

He walked through a kitchen area that had several knives hung up along the walls over the many as well as several places to hold meat, evidence of his status as the town butcher.

They got to the front door of the establishment and Kaila's father ducked behind it as a group of men in leather armor with steel backed gauntlets, steel breastplates, shoulder guards, and boot covers walked past a window positioned next to the thick door.

The woman came around the corner holding a dark-haired child came stealthily up behind, trying to hide behind the door as well.

The sight of the men, however brief, had unnerved Kaila.

"Daddy, what's happening, I'm scared." She said fearfully as she looked into his face.

He glanced down into her eyes and told her to hush, reassuring her that everything would be fine.

"Hey, I think I heard something from in here." Said a gruff voice from outside the door.

"You sure?" Asked another.

"It doesn't matter, we may as well torch the place anyway." Said a third.

Kaila's mother gasped, audibly.

"Shalla." Said Kaila's father as he pushed the four-year-old into her arms. "Take the children out the back door and run out of town and into the forest. Quickly, I'll distract them."

"But Bart-" She began to protest fearfully.

"But nothing!" He cut her off. "Just go."

She nodded, took Kaila firmly in her arms, grabbed Leon's hand, and sprinted through the house to the kitchen area, then out a door that was opposite of the front entrance.

As Shalla exited she heard the sound of the front door banging open, a surprised yell from a few of the armored men, and then the sound of a body dropping to the ground.

Shalla halted just outside the door and turned back slightly.

"Bart..." She muttered sadly.

Lets search the place first, there could be any number of 'em hiding in here." Said one of the gruff voices.

"Doesn't that mean we should just torch the place?" Replied another.

"Nah, Lance needs to make himself feel better because he let some inferior-being split his lip." Replied a third mockingly, eliciting a short burst of laughter out of another.

"Shut up and search the place!" Spat the first voice angrily.

Shalla looked hesitantly around, she could hear the footsteps from inside getting closer. Quickly she set down her daughter and took the hands of her children.

"Leon, I want you to take your sister and run into the forest, don't stop until you find a safe place to rest. I'm going to need you to take care of your sister for me." She said, looking into the eyes of her dark-haired son.

The boy looked confused and opened his mouth to speak, but his little sister beat him to it.

"But I don't want to be alone in the forest with just Leon!"

Shalla smiled softly at her little girl. "You'll be fine." She pulled off a necklace she's been wearing and handed it to the girl. "As long as you have this I'll always be with you."

"Really?" Asked the girl softly.

Her mother nodded, and brought both of her children into a big hug.

"I love you both, now go." She gave them a small push to get them started, and they both ran into the forest. The small boy with dark-hair leading the way, guiding his little sister by the hand.

"Hey this door's open, I'm going to go check it out." Said a voice.

Shalla took a deep breath. _Goodbye, my children. _

Then she turned into the house and threw herself at the surprised looking man in armor.

_Why did mom look so sad and scared? _Wondered Leon as he led his little sister through the forest. _I'm just going to see her again tomorrow right? And why couldn't she come with us? I don't even know where I'm going. But she did tell me to lead Kaila through the forest, so I'd better do it, I might get in trouble if I don't. _

"Leon can you slow down?" Panted Kaila from behind him.

"Can you just speed up?" Replied the boy in annoyance.

"I'm littler than you, just slow down!"

Leon sighed and reduced his pace to one more manageable by his sibling.

"Is that better?" He asked as he turned back to face her.

"Yeah, thanks Leon!" She replied brightly.

He turned around and stopped suddenly as they nearly ran into a tree.

The boy looked around uncertainly. He hadn't been following a clear-cut path, simply going in whatever direction seemed clear, now there didn't really seem an easy way forward.

"Leon where are we going?" Asked Kaila as she looked around.

"I don't know. I guess we have to turn around." He said uncertainly.

The forest looked dark at night, and now that the adrenaline had worn off the two children were jumping at everything. Small animals, even shadows.

A growl sounded out of the distance.

Kaila squealed in fright.

Leon looked around nervously, he wasn't even sure if he'd turned around or not. As he looked around the dark forest, with trees that seemed to be growing taller and darker the more looked at him, he grew afraid.

He started to back away from the trees, taking his sister with him. Which led him to bump into a tree, the two whirled around and leapt back, staring wide-eyed at the tree, as though expecting it to attack.

Then they heard footsteps coming from the bushes to their right. They turned and peered into the darkness with wide eyes as someone came crashing through the bushes.

Kallus cursed himself as he felt bushes scratch at him for the hundredth time since hearing the child-like screams. _I could have just gone home and slept, but no, I've got to be a damn idiot and chase the sound of random kids probably playing some damn game! _

_Least the suns coming out so I can see a little better. _He thought as he saw a gap through the tangled tree branches overhead that revealed a lightening sky.

As he finally came out of the bushes he saw two small children staring at him with big, curious, and more than a little fearful eyes.

_What do we have here? _He thought. _Why are two kids out here in the forest in the middle of the night? _

They backed away from Kallus as he drew near, though he did notice the boy put himself slightly in front of the girl.

"I ain't gonna hurt you two kids." He said as he stopped in front of them. They seemed to relax a little.

"Now what're you two doing out here in the middle of the da- the night?" He said, remembering to curb his language for the kids.

"Well our Mom told us to run." Began the boy. "There were these scary armored guys." Said the girl.

And it all went downhill from there.

Kallus shook his head. _And this is what I get for asking a question to a group of kids, they all gotta talk at the same damn time. _

He held up a finger. "Shut up."

"That's a bad wo-" Began the girl.

"I'm an adult and I'll say all the bad words I want to." He retorted. She shrank back.

"Now, boy." Said Kallus, pointing at the kid with black hair. "Tell me what happened starting at the beginning."

As such, the boy recounted the events of the night as clearly as he could.

"Damn..." Muttered Kallus as the boy finished. "Desians, poor kids."

_I should go check out their town, but if I run into any Desians these two will be in the way. But I don't have anywhere to leave them. _

It only took him a moment more to make up his mind.

"I'm going to take you two to check it out. Could you take me back to your town?" He said turning to Leon.

"I don't really remember where we came from." Replied the boy with a shamed glance.

Kallus sighed again. _Damn kids don't pay attention to anything. _

"Fine, I'll just follow your trail." He said as he started following the tracks left by the bare-feet of children.

As he came out of the dark trees into the dim light of early morning Kallus could only describe the scene with one, albeit one of his favorite, words. "Damn..."

The small town was in shambles, there was fire covering most of the building, several bodies along the streets and next to collapsing buildings. Some of the buildings had collapsed on top of each other so he couldn't even tell where the individual buildings had once been in some places.

He turned to the two children behind him, who had started sobbing uncontrollably at the sight of their home.

"You two stay here, I'm going to go look for survivors." He wasn't sure if they heard him or not, but he left anyway heading into the ruined town.

As he strode through, looking through the ashes of the ruined town, his stomach twisted as it rarely ever twisted. Kallus felt a strong urge to vomit as he walked past a corpse covered in burns, and another in whiplashes.

_Why the hell does this bother me so much? I'm a mercenary, I kill and see people get killed all the damn time and it never bothers me at all. Then why does this bother me so bad? Is it because of the kids? _

He didn't have time to finish his thoughts as he heard voices coming from a mess of ruined houses to the left.

"Hey, it's the one that gave you that black eye, Lance."

"Good, now I can get some payback."

Kallus started to sprint toward the sound as he heard a whip crack. As Lance turned around the side of a wooden house he saw the most haunting thing he'd ever seen in his life.

A woman that he assumed would be considered beautiful once was laying on the ground, a heavy burned wound covering the right side of her body. She was bleeding from what looked like a sword wound on the other side.

And a man in leather with a helmet and armor over his breast, shoulders, boots, and gauntlets was standing over her, beating her with a whip, while another in the same attire but with a crossbow watched with a small smirk. She seemed to be attempting to cry out, but nothing came out.

_That filthy Desian bastard! _Thought Kallus, seething with rage. _She's already dead! _

Kallus sprinted toward the two men, the one with the whip turned just in time for Kallus's sword to sever his head from the rest of his body.

The other tried to aim his crossbow at the angry mercenary, but Kallus knocked it to the side with his sword, cut off the mans arm, and thrust his sword into the mans chest.

As Kallus cleaned the blood off of his sword using the dead mans leather clothing he heard a rasping coming from the woman.

He dropped his sword and knelt next to her.

_Even if I can't do anything, I can at least try to give her some peace. _

"Are my children safe?" She rasped desperately.

"Two of 'em? A boy with dark hair and a little girl?"

She nodded as well as she could.

"Yeah, I found 'em. They're fine."

"Will you… Take care of them… Please?" She rasped.

Kallus gave a simple nod. "I'll try my best ma'am."

"Thank..." Her voice trailed off as she ran out of breath.

Kallus sat there with his head bowed for a moment, then he got up and sheathed his sword.

_I'm going to have to find a safe place for the kids to sit while I bury the dead._

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**All reviews are greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.**


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